Recent content by Brian G

Good Day to you all! TL:DR - is an MC cartridge upgrade worth it on a relatively modest system? Long version - I was hoping to get some thoughts on the relative merits of upgrading to an MC cartridge from my Goldring E3 that I'm currently running. (I wasn't at all dissatisfied with the E3...

No problem at all. I guess I should start with a short initial impression and some general info about the Pre-amp. The unit follows a bit of a different design philosophy than most. It is incredibly versatile with a bunch of different options for operating modes in MM and MC, as well as...

For a track, I guess that tonight is all about Mark Knopfler's Privateering, but realistically, it's more about the whole album. Although right now I'm about to throw this on. View: https://youtu.be/djmU6aDINko

Disregard, the above. After 3h of headaches, the friend who sent it my way remembered to mention that there's an errata to the manual for MM. Feel free to delete this post or leave it up as a PSA for others. By way of a preliminary review, this is a pretty great piece of lesser known kit...

I am demoing the above pre-amp paired with a Rega P2/Goldring E3. When setup in MM mode, with the jumpers positioned as per the provided manual, I'm getting a considerable amount of interference and noise whether in high gain or standard gain mode. Am I missing something in the setup? Or could...

Re: the stereo, your experience is inline with what I somewhat suspected. I've read reviews stating that the stereo effect is impressive on the G2, but that seamed unlikely. I suspect that I'll end up blind-buying a katch G2 as well... Mostly on account of trying to minimize the made in China...

Growing up my father always had tight 2 channel setups. Most memorable was a pair of Telefunken TX3 speakers mated to a Yamaha CA 610 and a Revolver Rebel turntable. The Telefunkens ended up suffering from the effects of long term volume-wear (likely caused by my brother and I) and being...

Going simply off of sound quality not features, what is likely going to provide a better listening experience: a Dali Katch G2, or 2 paired Beosound A1 gen 2s? Subjective, I know, but to narrow it down I'm looking for a travel or outdoor set-up that can provide something like a good HiFi...

A late introduction, but greetings all the same! I'm a very amateur HiFi enthusiast from Canada, as well as an ex soldier and long before that a teenager that used to dabble as a concert audio tech. Top 3: 1. Gary Moore Old New Ballads. 2. Dire Straits Brothers in Arms. 3. J.M. Jarre Welcome...

Well, to partially answer my own question I snagged a Project Phonobox E for the price of an entry level bottle of Scotch, and was surprised to find that it was an improvement over the Cambridge's phono stage (although it still can't run with the Brio). Although the Phonobox is by no means...

The Brio that I have was a floor demo and that was hard enough to find in my city. They can be found used as private sales online herein the £450 range, but I hesitate to go that route if it's not close enough to audition the thing, as I have been burned before.

The AXA was new in box. The Io runs around $900 or £520 in Canada.

Oberon 5s*

Question: I'm running a Node2I and Rega P2 (newer RB220 arm with bias adjustment model mated to a Goldring E3 cartridge) through an AXA35. I have a Rega Brio on my larger system* and find it to be dynamically superior (especially when listening to the P2) to the Cambridge on both set-ups. My...

Well, I'm now running oberon 7s through a Rega Brio (both floor demos for a substantial discount). Great combination. Thanks for the advice, all. Side note, I did manage to try out the REL. Probably would have gone that route if I was more in to movies etc.